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Earbuds have improved dramatically over the past few years. The technology is at the point where you shouldn’t have to worry too much about a dodgy Bluetooth connection or a dropped signal. You can get decent sound, battery life, and noise-canceling capabilities at a variety of different price points. As a result, comfort, convenience, and how much you care about premium sound quality are likely to be the deciding factors for which earbuds are best for you.
To find the best wireless earbuds, I tested nine models, spending at least ten hours using each and trying them across a variety of devices with different operating systems to check for sound and connection quality. I listened to music and podcasts as well as an audiobook for good measure in loud and quiet environments, such as a busy subway station and a coffee shop, to account for sound quality and the effectiveness of noise-cancellation features.
We don’t have a best overall pick for wireless earbuds because more and more manufacturers are taking Apple’s approach and locking the best features to first-party hardware. That means a pair of third-party wireless earbuds from a company such as JBL can’t always offer the same integration with an iPhone or MacBook Air as a pair of AirPods can (this in part may have even pushed Jabra to exit the category entirely), as they can’t access the same parts of iOS and macOS for easier connection. Samsung has also made its earbuds sound better when used alongside a Samsung device such as a Galaxy phone or one of the company’s TVs. This — along with the fact that features such as noise transparency and voice assistant triggers won’t work when using one company’s earbuds with another company’s hardware — make finding the right fit for most people a bit trickier. In many cases, those advantages result in a better experience for the user, so we’ve picked out the best earbuds for each major mobile operating system along with picks based on other criteria such as sound quality and price.
Update on July 17, 2024: Updated prices and checked stock for all products.
What we’re looking for
Noise cancellation
For models with noise-canceling capabilities, we listened for how effective they are at blocking out background noise whether we were at home or moving through the city. Note that some people find noise-canceling headphones uncomfortable because they can cause a feeling of pressure in your eardrums. I didn’t experience this issue during my tests, but if you are new to noise-canceling headphones, be sure to choose a pair that has a hear-through mode that makes it easier to hear the noise around you.
Comfort
Great sound quality can go only so far if earbuds are uncomfortable to wear. Size, weight, and design will affect how earbuds feel. Some of the earbuds we tested were so heavy they felt like anchors on our ears. Poorly designed earbuds can feel even worse if you wear glasses. Some models feature memory-foam ear tips that expand and contour for a more comfortable and customizable fit. Others have a more rigid plastic design that might not fit as well as some people would like. Models that come with different sizes of interchangeable ear tips provide a more bespoke fit.
Battery life
The average battery life for the earbuds in this guide is about five and a half hours. Many wireless earbuds have batteries in their cases, which recharge the earbuds every time you place them inside. The cases typically hold enough power to fully recharge the earbuds at least two more times, which helps ensure you have enough battery life for a full day of calls, podcasts, and music before you have to recharge the case.
Water resistance
An Ingress Protection (IP) rating tells you how resistant earbuds are to water or solid particles like dust (the higher the number, the better the protection). For water resistance, we only recommend earbuds with at least a waterproof rating of 4 (out of 9).
Best wireless earbuds for iOS users
Noise cancellation: Yes | Comfort: 4g per earbud, multi-size ear tips | Battery life: 6 hours with noise canceling turned on; 5 hours without | Water resistance: IPX4 rating — sweat- and water resistant
The AirPods Pro boast many of the same features that make our previous pick for best overall, the OG AirPods, great: simple setup process, seamless connection to your iPhone, compact size, and a relatively comfortable design. But the reason we’ve moved them to the top spot is their notably better sound.
Although the Pros sound great, the main appeal of Apple’s earbuds is how simple the setup process is — just open up the AirPod case and your iPhone starts connecting. The fact that Apple made the setup process so easy is something anyone can appreciate, but it will be especially welcome for people who aren’t overly tech savvy. AirPods may lack basic noise-cancellation features, but their convenience, as well as the third generation’s addition of MagSafe charging and spatial audio, make them a convenient and decent-sounding option for those seeking a basic earbud.
Thanks to the rubberized tips, which come in four sizes, you can get a more custom fit, which should appeal if you struggled with the fit of the originals. The AirPods Pro have ANC and offer a significant step up in sound quality with richer and better-balanced bass. Plus, Apple added little black vents to the outside of the Pros to alleviate that completely sealed-off, underwater feeling that some earbuds can cause.
The latest AirPods Pro feature the same transparency and active noise-cancellation modes as the first-generation model with an additional feature Apple calls Adaptive Transparency, which toggles transparency mode based on the sounds around you (it’ll turn on when you start talking to someone). When transparency mode is active, if the AirPods detect a sound above a certain decibel level (sirens, loud yelling, overly loud engines being revved), they’ll reduce the volume of those sounds before passing them to your ears.
The second-gen AirPods Pro are the first wireless earbuds Apple has put out that allow you to adjust playback volume right on the stem of the AirPods. It’s one of those features that you miss when using another pair of headphones and makes using the AirPods Pro even more convenient than before. The second-gen AirPods Pro have the same U1 chip as Apple’s AirTags, which makes it easier to track them if you ever lose them; there’s a speaker on the bottom of the new case that will play a loud chime whenever you ping the AirPods from the Find My app. It’s loud enough to hear from across the house and easily cuts down on the time spent hunting for your headphones before running out the door.
My only complaint with Apple’s AirPods (this is true also of the standard AirPods and the Max) is that if you have multiple Apple devices, like an iPad and MacBook, the earbuds have a tendency to connect to different devices when you walk by them. This is true even when listening to music or on a call. You can disable this feature entirely, but it should work as Apple has advertised: If you’re listening to music on your Mac and get a call on your iPhone, the AirPods should automatically switch. While this is true sometimes, the unintentional swap is so frequent I’ve turned that feature off on all of my Apple gear.
Best (less-expensive) wireless earbuds for iOS users
Noise cancellation: None | Comfort: 3g per earbud, hard plastic with no additional ear tips | Battery life: 5 hours | Water resistance: No IP rating
Teens, athletes, and tech experts love AirPods and for good reason: The setup is as simple as that of the AirPods Pro, and the battery life is impressive due to the charging case, which is extremely portable thanks to its Tic Tac–like size.
The AirPods’ controls are simple and intuitive. You tap or double tap the sides of the earbuds to pause, play, or skip songs and, if you’re using an iOS device, to activate Siri. You can use the AirPods with other devices, though the experience is much smoother within the Apple ecosystem. There aren’t many options for customization on the AirPods’ tap function — unlike the Sony and Sennheiser earbuds below, which all allow you to customize the controls — but Apple’s standard controls work well in most situations. And though some people have had issues with the AirPods’ fit, that can often be improved with an inexpensive accessory like a plastic hook that attaches to each earbud and latches onto your ear for a more secure fit.
With the charging case, third-generation AirPods can provide up to 30 hours of total battery life, depending on your usage. One warning: The all-white case tends to attract dirt and grime, but you can always throw a cover over your AirPods case.
Best wireless earbuds for Android users
Noise cancellation: Yes | Comfort: 6.2g per earbud, hard plastic with three additional ear tips | Battery life: 7 hours | Water resistance: IPX4
If you have an Android phone or devices across multiple platforms and find yourself switching between them for all your audio needs, Google’s Pixel Buds Pro will make the transitions more seamless than the other earbuds on this list.
They don’t sound quite as good as the second-generation Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro, but they’re on par with the Apple AirPods Pro 2. The real strength of the Pixel Buds Pro is that they’re able to pair with multiple devices simultaneously, so you can watch a video on your MacBook, then pause and start playing your favorite playlist from your Android device, and the Pixel Buds will automatically switch. The initial pairing process on iOS isn’t as convenient as with Apple’s own devices, but after that setup, the easy switching is a nice feature to have.
Best of all, even with an iPhone, the touch controls on the sides of the earbuds still work great, as does the noise cancellation, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on too many features — which is not true of many of the non-Apple earbuds on this list.
Best earbuds for Samsung Galaxy users
Noise cancellation: Yes | Comfort: 5g per earbud, multi-size ear tips | Battery life: 5 hours with noise canceling turned on | Water resistance: IPX7 rating — sweat and water resistant
If you’re envious of the convenience and integration the AirPods and AirPods Pro provide but don’t want to ditch your Samsung gear to join Apple’s ecosystem, you should get Samsung’s Galaxy Buds2 Pro. They’re effectively the company’s response to the AirPods Pro: They have a similar-style charging case and active noise canceling (with similar adaptive features to the second-generation AirPods Pro), and they easily connect to Samsung devices without having to go through the typical (and annoying) pairing process.
They’re not just similar to the AirPods Pro, though: In some cases, they’re better. I found that the Galaxy Buds2 Pro had richer sound with more vibrant bass while listening to music on Spotify (the Buds2 Pro have been tuned by AKG, a subsidiary of Samsung that manufactures professional and consumer-grade headphones and microphones), and the noise cancellation was equally effective.
Samsung recently announced an updated version of these earbuds, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro. They feature a new design that looks more like AirPods, making them less discreet than the fully in-ear Buds2 Pro. But with that comes new gestures for controlling volume and playback, and they have adaptive noise cancellation now, so it’ll turn on transparency mode when needed, all without pressing any buttons. We’re in the process of testing the Buds3 Pro and will update this guide with our thoughts soon.
Best earbuds for phone-free controls
Noise cancellation: Yes | Comfort: 12.2g per earbud, hard plastic with three ear tips | Battery life: 8 hours with noise-canceling turned on | Water resistance: IPX5
If you’d rather not have to whip out your phone to deal with your headphones, JBL’s Tour Pro 2 wireless earbuds have a screen right on their case that allows you to control things like playback, volume, and sound mode (transparency or noise canceling). You can even set timers, enable a flashlight, and play a loud sound from stray earbuds to more easily find them. Although tiny, the screen provides a handy way to make sure your earbuds have plenty of battery before you head out for the day.
Beyond a fancy on-device screen, the Tour Pro 2’s sound great for casual listening while you work, and its noise cancellation is effective even in noisy settings like busy streets or crowded coffee shops. In transparency mode, however, they sound more muddled than Apple’s AirPods Pro, which do a better job of playing your audio over the sounds of the outside world. That quibble aside, the sound is still great, and the buds can last up to 40 hours total when used with the charging case, which is plenty of juice to get through a few days without needing to recharge.
Other mobile accessories we’ve tested
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